BLM Is About to Take Over a 73-Acre Ranch in Humboldt County. Salmon Restoration Is the Goal.

Salmon, steelhead, and the public are all about to gain access to a stretch of Northern California land that has been quietly in conservation hands for nearly a decade.

Westfall Ranch, a 73-acre property hugging the edge of Humboldt County’s Headwaters Forest Reserve, is expected to transfer from Save the Redwoods League to the Bureau of Land Management this July. The $750,000 deal, financed through BLM’s Land and Water Conservation Fund, would open the land to public access for the first time.

The League originally bought the ranch in 2016 for $1.1 million with a clear exit strategy: restore it, then hand it to public ownership. That restoration work has been ongoing ever since, including conifer planting, invasive species removal, meadow habitat recovery, and future projects planned in partnership with the Wiyot Tribe.

But the real prize runs through the middle of the property.

About a mile of the South Fork Elk River winds through Westfall Ranch, and that stretch is what has BLM most interested. The agency, working alongside environmental group CalTrout, has its sights set on restoring salmon and steelhead spawning habitat along that corridor. CalTrout has already drawn up a conceptual plan involving sediment removal, riparian vegetation work, and adding woody structure to the riverbed.

Sediment washing down from industrial timberlands above the ranch remains a complicating factor, and full restoration will depend partly on what happens upstream.

The property won’t be folded into the Headwaters Forest Reserve itself, but BLM’s Arcata field office will manage it alongside the reserve. No trail plans are finalized yet. A small parcel with a home and barn was separated out and will be sold independently by the League.